Images from isolation: North Korea in photos

Photos from North Korea

Whenever I start talking to people who have been following my travels, all they want to know about is my trip into North Korea. And, in particular, they always ask about my photos of North Korea.

In some ways, I don’t blame them. Visiting North Korea is certainly a surreal experience that challenged so many of the preconceptions I had about the country.

It felt like going into a time machine – being transported back to a land trapped in an old-style communist bubble while the world had changed around it.

The people there were startled to see me and the others I was travelling with. Nowhere in the world had I seen such a mix of shock, confusion and fear in the eyes of locals because of the presence of foreigners.

The North Korean regime, with its isolationist polices, has kept much of the country a secret to the outside world – but, of course, it is the rest of the world that is really being kept secret from its own citizens.

But the real reason for this post is to share some more of the North Korea photos I took while inside ‘the axis of evil’.

Many people will never even see photos like this that aren’t filtered through the propaganda machines of the North Korean or foreign governments.

I hope these photos of North Korea give you a bit of a sense of what it was like to visit.

North Korea photos

One of the thing you immediately notice in the North Korean capital, Pyongyang, is the focus on ceremonial activities.

For instance, local people are brought in by the busload each day to visit the mausoleum of Kim Il Sung (the Eternal President). Here are some ladies dressed in traditional outfits getting ready to go in and see the leader’s embalmed body.

The flowers placed on the tiles here are in honour of the war dead. This is the Revolutionary Martyrs’ Cemetery, the graveyard of the greatest heroes who fought against the Japanese.

When I visited, school groups were lined up ready to climb the steps and pay their respects.

Everywhere through the parts of the country I saw – but particularly in Pyongyang – the government buildings are decorated with flags, images of the leaders, and propaganda-style messages in Korean.

Here, in the heart of the capital, the size of the offices and the signs dwarfs the number of people who are actually walking around through the main streets of the city.

This is Pyongyang, the capital. The river runs through the centre of the city and the buildings stretch out from it.

The large construction you can see on the left is the hotel for the foreigners – conveniently built on an island so the bridges can be guarded at night.

And here is the view of the city from the opposite direction. As you can see, there are just lots of high-rise apartment buildings one after the other.

At night, many of them are in pure darkness with either no electricity or no residents (or both).

Only about ten per cent of the North Korean population is allowed to live in Pyongyang. They are generally people who have a high status within the ruling elites.

Roadblocks on the main highways stop people without permission from coming into the city.

The rest of the population lives in rural areas – sometimes centred around medium-sized cities.

Here are some people getting ready to go to work one morning in a rural town. Notice what they’re wearing and the consistency in the style.

This is the same town, just a few blocks away. In this case, notice the sign on the left.

These are propaganda messages which are placed throughout the whole country to encourage people to work hard and to boast about the glories of North Korea.

There are also a lot of people in the rural areas who don’t work traditional day jobs. Here is a group of people resting by the side of the road.

It’s not clear what all of them have been doing but some have clearly spent their time collection bundles of wood.

A few hours’ drive from Pyongyang is the Nampho Dam, one of the prides and joys of North Korea.

It is seen by the country’s leadership as one of the greatest achievements in modern history. At a cost of about 4 billion dollars, the eight kilometre dam took five years to build between 1981 and 1986.

Every trip to North Korea, which is always done under the guidance of local authorities, must include a stop here. There is no mention of how many people died making it, though.

There is a preoccupation with war in North Korea – probably not surprising seeing as the country has technically been at war for more than sixty years (the armistice between North and South Korea in 1953 didn’t officially end the conflict – it just agreed on a ceasefire).

These two photos are from the curiously-named ‘Victorious Fatherland Liberation War Museum’.

The first shows the guide explaining the panorama of a battle at Taejon. The second shows some of the country’s tanks.

Speaking of war, in this photo you can see a large gate near the de-militarised zone (DMZ). Have a look at the people beneath it to get a sense of how large it is.

It’s not just for decoration, though. The whole thing is designed to collapse down onto the road to block it if land forces ever try to come up from South Korea.

One of the things I found quite surprising about North Korea was how beautiful a lot of the landscapes were. There are certainly a few natural wonders to explore.

In these two photos you can see a waterfall from a national park and the coloured lighting of a cave complex deep underground.

In the rural areas, there is a lot of greenery. Rice paddies dominate most of the landscape and the people you can see are living very simple lives without much electronic or mechanical help.

The photo of this woman is typical of country life for the North Koreans.

Some people will work in factories to produce goods for the population. Simple goods, though. I was allowed to go inside and see a water-bottling factory where bottles are reused over and over again to provide clean drinking water.

North Korea proudly shows the artistic and sporting achievements of its country. By that, I mean that from a very young age people must train and practice hard in their particular expertise.

One afternoon I went to a performance by school children at a massive theatre in Pyongyang. The skill of the kids was astounding – everything was perfect and precise with a lot of genuine talent on display.

Here are a few photos from that performance.

There are also quite a few large and public festivals in North Korea, all which seem to have the aim of glorifying the country and its leaders.

I happened to be there during a national holiday and caught this image of people walking to a square to perform in a mass dance.

You’ll notice the monotony in their outfits and how they are walking in the same orderly way that school children might walk to assembly.

And finally, the great gate which marks the entrance to Pyongyang from one direction. It is an enormous structure that can be seen from a long way away.It’s just a pity that most people in North Korea can’t afford a car and so the roads are normally pretty deserted. It meant I didn’t hit too many traffic jams during my trip.

* If you’re interested in travelling to North Korea, I recommend checking out Koryo Tours.

Wow, that’s an amazing article. It’s like an Orwellian dream (or nightmare?) come true. I can’t believe that people still allow other people to rule over them like this. It seems barbaric almost. Although, looking at the UK recently, and the whimsical way people are arrested for posting slightly upsetting things on facebook.. maybe I shouldn’t rest quite so easy…

The thing with North Korea is I’m not convinced the people ‘allow’ them to rule over them. They mostly don’t know much better and don’t think there is an alternative so they go along with it. Many of them actually think the leaders are deities.

There is a movie about how hard the ceremonial dancers work their whole lives to train in hopes that one day they will get the chance to perform for the leader (don’t remember the term president). The story follows two young girls. Great movie to watch.

The differences would be huge. Absolutely enormous. But it is definitely worth seeing both sides – and hearing what people think about the chance of reunification (which is still technically North Korea’s policy).

Yes, I’m not sure what has happened with the hotel. It was supposed to have opened earlier in the year but I don’t think they made the deadline. Perhaps the leadership change threw a bit of a spanner in the works. It looked pretty impressive from where I saw it… but perhaps you’d want to leave it a year or so just so they could iron out any bugs.

LOVE this peak inside North Korea. As you mention, foreigners visit under the watchful eye of guides/minders and I’m sure you were only allowed to see what they wanted you to see, however, the places you shot look remarkably modern and well-maintained. I guess I was surprised by that and it’s certainly in stark contrast with the poverty, starvation and general deprivation we know exists across the rest of this bizarre country. Off to you read your “how to” post about travel to North Korea…

I wouldn’t say that things are particularly ‘modern’ but the grand monuments are definitely well-maintained and don’t look old and dilapidated. The surprising thing for me was how colourful a lot of it was and how green the countryside is. That’s not what you normally see in images of North Korea.

Its easy for us to be aghast at the lack of freedom these people have, but I wonder are they better prepared for the worst? They already live independently on their own resources. Clothing styles being monotonous is a result of socialism, but is it also a result of isolation? Different styles require different machines, fabrics, dyes, and textile resources. One style of clothing is what the poor have always had. Variety is a result of wealth. In reference to your comment about it being a shame that they can’t afford cars, is it? Cars cause the pollution that is leading to global warming. Cars also require fuel, a resource causing many wars. Traveling by bike makes the North Koreans quite like the Dutch. There is no doubt that NK is quite the place. Thanks for sharing your pictures and your thoughts.

You make some good points. There are definitely some theoretical benefits from a simpler life. And most North Koreans know no better and just accept this is how things are for everyone. Less cars in the world would be a wonderful thing… but I think the main problem here is that North Koreans have no choice and their freedoms are restricted. It would be better to see the world decrease its dependence on oil voluntarily, in my opinion.

Crazy. I’ve always watched and been so fascinated by North Korea documentaries. I am dying to go, and will have the opportunity when I make it up there in the summer of this year. Did you feel like you got a real feel for the place or was it all staged to look appealing and prosperous?

There were a lot of things that were definitely staged. The guides will always try to make things look better than they are. But if you’re in the country for more than a few days, you’ll start to get a sense of what things are really like.

Yeah, it’s weird because I didn’t even notice it at first because it was such sensory overload. I couldn’t quite put my finger on what was wrong and then realised it was that everybody looked the same!

I discovered your blog through Indonesia’s tourism website. What a great experience to be a part of the trip across Indonesia!

Speaking of North Korea, when you said it felt like you’re transported back in time, I felt the same when I visited Myanmar last January. But as the country is rapidly opening up to foreigners, things will be a lot different within a few years’ time I believe. Meanwhile, I think North Korea won’t be doing the same even though they have a new leader which at some point is regarded as ‘reformist’. So, your photos are truly valuable sources for people like us to get a glimpse into the ‘hermit kingdom’.

Thanks Bama! You’re right, I don’t think there’s going to be any rush from the new N Korea leader to open the country up. Perhaps tourism might expand a bit, but it’s still always going to be under the control of party officials. Myanmar, on the other hand, sounds like a country I should get to really soon before the whole place changes.

For a country so isolated and in defiance of the rest of the world, North Korea has a good number of pretty amazing places. I can only wish the local leaders would focus more on developing and promoting these locations rather using what little resources they have for manufacturing deadly weapons or issuing black propaganda.

They use a lot of these amazing places for propaganda. In fact, many of them were created for that very reason. I don’t think tourism, in the purest sense, is on the agenda. Although they definitely want Westerners to leave with a positive impression of how glorious everything is!

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This is the website of travel writer, Michael Turtle. After working in broadcast journalism for a decade in Australia, Michael left Sydney to travel the world indefinitely and write about the places, people and experiences he discovers. This isn't a diary - these are real stories from the world.

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